by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- The Republican Party is embracing a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, as part of an effort to rebrand itself and attract more Hispanic voters who supported President Obama and Democrats in the last election.

The support for an immigration overhaul is part of a $10 million outreach effort that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus formally unveiled Monday. The outreach will begin this year, well ahead of the 2014 midterm elections.

The outreach proposal, which will include women and young people, is one of many recommendations that come out of a major post-election report aimed at showing how the GOP can reverse its poor showing at the ballot box in 2008 and 2012. In both campaigns, the Republican Party failed to take the White House and did not gain power in the Senate.

Among the 219 recommendations: Shortening the GOP presidential primary season and cutting in half the number of candidate debates to about 10 to 12 sessions.

"When Republicans lost in November, it was a wake-up call," Priebus said in remarks at the National Press Club. "We want to build our party and we want to do it with bold strokes. ... We're done with business as usual."

Obama won a second term on the strength of votes from women, minorities and young people. He took 71% of the Hispanic vote, 55% of women and 60% of young voters under 30, according to surveys of voters as they left polling places.

"The RNC cannot and will not write off any demographic, community, or region of this country," Priebus said, as he explained that focus groups viewed the party as "narrow minded," "out of touch" and made up of "stuffy old men."

The report states Republicans "must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform." Doing so is "consistent with Republican economic policies that promote job growth and opportunity for all," the report says. Specific policy proposals will be left to Congress.

"If we do not, our party's appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only," the report says.

In the section devoted to reaching Hispanics, the RNC report is critical about the party's past rhetoric. Mitt Romney championed self-deportation of undocumented immigrants already in the USA during his march to the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

"If Hispanics think that we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies," the report states. "In essence, Hispanic voters tell us our party's position on immigration has become a litmus test, measuring whether we are meeting them with a welcome mat or a closed door."

A bipartisan group of senators has released guidelines for an immigration overhaul, which would lead to a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. The proposal first aims at tightening the borders and improving the way employers can verify the status of workers before a pathway to citizenship kicks in.

The pathway to citizenship is the most controversial part of the Senate outline, since many House Republicans view such a proposal as amnesty for lawbreakers. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, heralded as one of the Republican Party's rising stars, is one of the Senate proposal's chief supporters.

Priebus stressed repeatedly in his remarks that the party's goal is to recast its tone and change perceptions about Republicans. "It's about being decent," he said. "People don't deserve to be disrespected."

Besides improving the party's messaging and changing its tactics to reach all voters, the RNC report also includes recommendations on updating the GOP's technology and data collection and the way it runs campaigns by using success stories from the states.

On presidential primaries, Priebus said the party will develop guidelines for fewer debates so that the overall effect is to "help our eventual nominee." The RNC also plans to adopt a shorter primary season, one that will continue emphasizing the "first-in-the-nation" status of states such Iowa and New Hampshire. The goal, however, is to hold an earlier national convention so the nominee will have access to general election funds.

Many Republicans believe Romney was hurt by the 20 primary debates, which were time consuming and spotlighted negative attacks between the candidates. The long primary season meant Romney had to wait until after the GOP national convention, held last August in Tampa, to tap into general election funds.